Pretty Little Thing (Central Valley U)

She lets out a long, sad sigh.

“But you…you see me. You always have.”

“Full confession, I was borderline obsessed with you for months.”

“Really?” She somehow manages to sound intrigued and condescending at the same time. “Couldn’t tell, what with how often you came in.”

I laugh humorlessly. “And yet I still couldn’t bring myself to ask for your name.”

She lifts a delicate shoulder in a shrug. “I wouldn’t have told you anyway.”

“Figured as much.”

“It’s a safety thing, you know. To protect us from guys like you.” She’s teasing me, and damn if that doesn’t ease some of the weight bearing down on me.

“Guys like me?” I growl back.

“Yeah.” She wraps her red and black strands around her index finger and twirls. “You know—obsessed.”

“Smartass.”

“Stalker.”

I clutch at my chest. “You got me.”

“Seriously though, thank you for stopping by.” She stands from the couch and heads for the door. “I’ll tell them to refund your money.”

“No!” I shout, darting to my feet. “No, please don’t. Keep it.”

“Are…are you sure?”

I nod, feeling at peace for the first time in God knows how long. “Yeah, Bluebird. I’m sure.”

“I’ll miss seeing you…” She smiles softly, shyly. “She’s a lucky girl.”

I huff out a laugh through my nose. “Currently, she’s not interested in giving me the time of day, but I can feel it.” I thump my chest. “Right here. I can feel something between us.”

She turns the knob and steps into the hallway. “Goodbye, Orion.”

I lift my hand in a halfhearted wave, and then she’s gone.

All in all, tonight went better than I anticipated; but now is when the real work begins, because I have to somehow convince the prickly Frankie to give me a chance—and something tells me she’s going to really put me through my paces.

“You’re home early,” Samson says, the second I walk in the front door.

I know he’s here with Stella, watching Maverick while Frankie works.

Man, I wish I knew where she waitressed at because seeing her beautiful face would be really great right about now.

“Where are you?” The house is dead silent, and despite being able to hear Samson, I can’t see him.

“Down here.” His hand shoots up in the air. I round the corner and smirk when I find him sitting on the floor behind the couch, alone in the dark, neither Stella or Maverick in sight.

“How’d it go?”

“It went.” He is well aware of where I was going when I left earlier tonight, and he’s a nosy shit by nature, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to open up to him.

“You wanna talk about it?” He hauls himself up to his feet and follows me into the kitchen.

“I told her I wasn’t coming back.”

“Thought you were gonna marry her.” His tone borders on snarky, but I know he’s coming from a good place. This is just what we do.

I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and crack the lid, gulping down several sips of the cool liquid. “I know you think I’m an idiot—and I really did feel something for her. But…”

“But Frankie.” He leans back against the counter, his eyes laser focused on me, gauging my reaction.

“Yeah, Frankie.” I keep my face neutral. I’m sure now that he’s happily domesticated, he’d love to dole out relationship advice, but I’m not sure my little sister’s boyfriend—best friend or not—is the guy I want to take dating advice from.

Not that Samson cares. He’s like a big, blond bulldozer, tearing shit up with no regard for anyone else. “What are you gonna do about it?”

How do I even answer that? How does one convince a single mom who’s as skittish as a baby deer to take a chance?

Either way, I had to break whatever was happening between Birdie and me off. Even if Frankie never gives me the time of day, it was the right thing to do, plain and simple.

“Hell if I know.”

“You’re in luck, big brother,” Stella says, waltzing into the room like she wasn’t just eavesdropping in the hall. How is she more annoying now than she was a decade ago? “Because I have a sure-fire game plan to win you your girl.”

“What girl?” Maverick asks, hot on her heels. He stops and wriggles his whole body like he just thought of something gross. “Girls are weird.”

“The gang’s all here,” Samson snorts, crossing the room to wrap Stella in his arms. He rests his head on her shoulder, and something inside of me smarts at how easy the two of them make everything look.

That’s not true, and you know it. They went through some shit, too.

The real question is how did I go from a content bachelor to ready to settle down?

I mean, really, am I ready to be a stepdad? And I realize, as crazy as it sounds, I am—I really am. Now I just have to convince Frankie.